WASHINGTON – Al Gore and Bill Bradley went head to head for the first time yesterday, but the Democrats went easy on each other – instead taking some shots at the Republicans and talking like clones on the issues.

The two presidential prospects showed their different styles – Bradley was contained and calm, and Gore seemed vibrant but rehearsed.

In back-to-back speeches before the Democratic National Committee, Bradley tried to show he’s a team player – by flattering some of the top congressional Democrats who have been around a long time and have backed Gore.

“Charlie Rangel may not be for me, but I sure want him to be the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,” Bradley said.

Gore was subtle in distinguishing himself from Bradley, noting that he was a Vietnam veteran, without saying Bradley didn’t serve in the military.

Gore is considered the Democratic front-runner, but Bradley, a former New York Knick and New Jersey senator, has surged.

He picked up the endorsement last week of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), and a new CNN-Time poll shows Bradley leading Gore, 44 percent to 41 percent, in New Hampshire.

Gore gently mocked George W. Bush for saying recently that the rash of mass shootings was caused by a “wave of evil.”

“I would say to the Republican front-runner, why don’t you join us in helping take the weapons of evil out of the hands of the evil-doers,” Gore said.

There was one striking difference between the two candidates.

At three separate times in his speech, Gore spoke about his family. Bradley never mentioned his daughter or wife.

“The emotional way that the vice president speaks about the issues is going to be the difference,” said Maria Luna, a New York delegate who wore a “Gore” button.

Gore: “When you go to the top of that summit (at Mount Ranier), you can see a long way… But you can’t see every storm over the horizon.”

Bradley: “The Mississippi River is a metaphor for America” because many streams flow into it.

Anecdote to Show the Plight of the Poor:

Gore: Tells the story of actor Danny Glover’s character in the movie, “Grand Canyon,” surveying a slum and observing: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Bradley: Tells the story of a girl in a classroom didn’t have breakfast because, she said, “It wasn’t my turn to eat.”

Attack on George W. Bush:

Gore: Criticized Bush for blaming a “wave of evil” instead of guns on the spate of mass shootings.

Bradley: Recalled going to Texas to threaten to make an issue of Bush’s promise to veto a hate-crimes bill.

Best Joke:

Gore: A woman calls her elderly husband on the cell phone to tell him to be careful driving because she heard on the radio about a driver going the wrong way on a highway, to which her husband replies, “There’s not just one. There’s hundreds.”

Bradley: “There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can’t.”